Popielak (856 m a.s.l.) is a broad, dome-shaped summit tucked into the heart of the Sowie Mountains (Góry Sowie) in the Central Sudetes — and it has a quiet charm that rewards those who seek it out. Despite not being the tallest peak in the area, it was the first in the massif to be recognized for its scenic value, and the sweeping views from its slopes over the Sowie Mountains, the Sudeten Foreland with Mount Ślęża, and the ranges surrounding the Kłodzko region make it easy to see why.

The summit plateau is wide and flat, draped in lower-montane spruce-beech forest that provides welcome shade on summer hikes and blazes with colour every autumn. In winter, the hill takes on a hushed, almost secret character under a blanket of snow. Some of the trees near the top show damage from acid rain — a sobering reminder of the environmental pressures these mountains have faced. The entire peak falls within the Sowie Mountains Landscape Park.

• Jugów village (approx. 3 km to the west) or the Bielawska Polana pass — follow the Sudeten Trail (yellow markings), section running from Wielka Sowa to Srebrna Góra; moderate difficulty.

• Popielak sits on the Sudeten Trail, making it easy to combine with a visit to the neighbouring peak Kalenica, which has a steel viewing tower.
• The summit lies within the Sowie Mountains Landscape Park — nature protection rules apply.

In 1889 the Dzierżoniów Sowie Mountains Society erected a ten-metre wooden viewing tower here called the 'Helena Tower' — Popielak was the first peak in the massif to get such a structure, beating its taller neighbours by decades.